Open: Wednesday, 2 August 2023, 1807 MST Temperature: 87°F

Session: 1911 Conditions: Clear, breezy

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1812 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the crescent-phased planet Venus, 102X and 271X.

Mounted the iPhone 13 Pro Max on the 2" 9mm eyepiece. Took this afocal 271X image of Venus, low in the western sky, using NightCap Camera (ISO 34, 1/5000sec, 1X lens). (A "dust donut" is at the lower left from dust on the eyepiece.)

Using the Camera app, did a 10 seconds slo-mo (240fps) video, afocal 271X. This is a stack of 2000 video frames.

1826 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1924 MST: Sunset. Calm now. Venus behind a tree, so no more Venus viewing this session.

1927 MST: High Precision ON.

SYNCed on the star Arcturus and prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging four Herschel 400 galaxies.

1932 MST: Back to the bench to watch the stars come out.

1937 MST: iPhone photo (0.5X lens) of Crepuscular rays in the northeastern sky.

2020 MST: Back in the observatory. Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on Arcturus, and locked the 12" primary mirror. Slewed to NGC5566 (galaxy), my first Herschel 400 target for the night.

2029 MST: StarLock ON.

Took the following StarLock autoguided images, 5 minutes, ISO 3200. Midway through the imaging, the southeastern sky began brightening from the rising waning gibbous Moon.

NGC5566 (galaxy)


NGC5576 (galaxy)


NGC5746 (galaxy)


NGC5846 (galaxy)

2111 MST: StarLock OFF.

Tried to observe NGC6118 (galaxy in the Herschel 400 Catalog), but the moonlit sky was too bright. Decided to resume Herschel 400 object viewing on the next session.

Here's my current Herschel 400 Project summary:

Viewed the following, 102X: M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy), M20 (Trifid Nebula), and M22 (globular cluster). The views were hampered by the bright moonlit sky.

2128 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 2 August 2023, 2145 MST Temperature: 80°F

Session Length: 3h 38m Conditions: Clear

---

Comments are welcome using Email. Please read the Email Etiquette guidance.

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page